Zach Benson’s “character” on a 9-game winning streak

It was a difficult start to the season for Buffalo Sabres. After a tie for last place in the Eastern Conference in mid-December, The Sabers fired GM Kevin Adams. Now, the team is riding a nine-game winning streak after beating St. Louis on Monday night. Louis Blues with 4-2. They climbed the table and forward Zach Benson delivered insight into why they win.

“We have a lot of character in this room,” Benson told the media after the game, per Lou Korac of NHL.com. “Everybody knows we have skill, but how many blocks we have on a night, pucks going off the wall, it’s just the little things and it adds up during the game. We’re doing all the details right.”

The Sabers lost the game against the Blues after Braiden Shenn and Jimmy Snuggerud found back-to-back first-period goals to give Buffalo a 2-1 lead. Alex Tuch tied the game late in the second period.

“We got the ‘D’ back, ‘Sammy’ found me, and I was able to find the back of the net,” Tuch said of his second-period goal.

In the second period, Buffalo controlled the game, doubling St. Louis’ shot total and shifting the momentum. Then Benson scored his fourth goal of the season in the third period to give the Sabers the lead. All four of his goals and two of his 13 assists have come during the nine-game winning streak.

“We outplayed them in the second. We turned the game in our direction,” coach Lindy Ruff said of the team’s performance. “We made a bunch of good shifts together in the O-zone, and I thought we followed it up with an even better third period. We only gave up two shots. We were a little sloppy at the end on the power play, but other than that, our third period was solid.”

With a nine-game winning streak, The Sabers are now 20-14-4 on the campaign. This tied the team with the Florida Panthers for fourth place in the Atlantic Division and the last Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference. The character and little things Benson talked about could lead to Buffalo ending their 14-season playoff drought. The team will also look to extend their winning streak to ten games as they host the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.